`Tape' is well written and well directed with first rate performances by Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Uma Thurman, and like Hitchcock's `Rope', `Tape' is also set in one room. But unlike Hitchcock's masterpiece, the room is a seedy motel in Lansing Michigan. Every inch of space is used - bathroom, beds -- the floor, in one instance during Vince's exaggeratedly athletic pushups, in another, as a fight breaks out just before Amy (Uma Thurman's) entrance; and finally when Vince, John, and Amy gather round a small table to rehash old times and old wounds.Vince (Ethan Hawke) has come to Lansing either at the invitation of his old high school buddy, or out of curiosity, or simply to get even.There is no violence and yet violence is at the core of the story.As tension builds and agendas are revealed we see that there never was any friendship only rivalry, unrequited love, and youth.`Tape' is a serious and thought provoking film satisfying and beautifully directed by Richard Linklater. The film's pace never lets up and though the dialogue covers the same ground over and over again it remains fresh coming always from a different point of view -- a credit to the excellent writing.